Gordon Lightfoot Forums - Fargo Newspaper Article

I'm about to head out the door for the Fargo concert tonight. This was posted in the Fargo Forum. Sounds like Gord is still watching cable news and engaged in current events.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/254660/

September 30 2009
Not ‘Sundown’ yet
Lightfoot still going despite health scare
Gordon Lightfoot isn’t unlike other 70-somethings.
By: John Lamb, INFORUM

After recovering from a near-fatal stomach ailment, Gordon Lightfoot says, “I’m not afraid of death.” Special to The ForumSendPrint
JAMESTOWN COMMUNICATIONS

Gordon Lightfoot isn’t unlike other 70-somethings.

When reached in the early evening at his home in Toronto earlier this month, the folk singer was watching cable news. Lou Dobbs, to be exact.

And like most 70-somethings, he was shocked by what was making the headlines that week; “That rapper (Kanye West) getting up on stage,” and Serena Williams’ outburst (“such foul language from a lady”) at the U.S. open.

“Of course I’m 71 years old this year, so I came from a more genteel upbringing and taught to be polite when I was a youngster,” he says.

The topic that really had Lightfoot’s attention was health care reform in the United States. His interest is understandable, knowing what the singer/

guitarist had to overcome to get back on the road and play the Fargo Civic Center tonight.

While preparing for a 2002 concert is his hometown of Orillia, Ont., Lightfoot became terribly ill. When he was admitted to the hospital, he was diagnosed with an abdominal aneurysm and airlifted to Hamilton, Ont., for surgery.

He remained in a coma for six weeks and woke up deaf and partially paralyzed, both temporary conditions.

“I was glad I wasn’t taken off the earth when I was ill,” he says. “For quite a long time I didn’t feel like I would perform again.”

His doctors told him he could make a recovery, but it would be hard work. With some of his abdominal muscles removed, the singer had to relearn how to push out his vocals. Two-and-a-half years after his near-death experience, he was back on the stage.

“Somehow I fought my way back because I have a very strong desire to continue on because I love to play the music,” he says. “I love the feeling it gives me when we have great crowds and great shows.”

Touring with a four-piece band, he’s settled into a “best of” show, assuring the crowd will hear what they came to hear, which would include hits such as “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” and, of course, the epic seafaring tragedy “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Lightfoot credits a regimen of four visits to the gym every week as helping him get back onstage, a place where even his peers become fans.

Bob Dylan lists Lightfoot as one of his favorite songwriters, saying, “Whenever I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”

Similarly, Dylan’s former band leader – and leader of The Band – Robbie Robertson, called Lightfoot “one of my favorite Canadian songwriters and is absolutely a national treasure.”

While Lightfoot appreciates the accolades, he shies away from national ties.

“I think North American,” he says, when asked how he views himself. “We’re all together, we’re all cousins.”